Want some ridiculous fun? Need a break from studying for finals? The First Annual Lawrence/KC Air Guitar Championship will be held tonight at the Jackpot Music Hall from 10pm- midnight.

Although this event is inspired by and will be run just like the U.S. Air Guitar Championships currently on tour across he country, it is an independent event. It will be hosted by me–Mean Melin–2009 KC Regional USAG champ and two-time runner-up so far this year.

There will be some one-minute edits available for last-minute walk-up entries. Sometimes wild crad entries have just as much of a chance of winning as the ones with prepared songs!

If you have your one-minute song prepared, however, bring it to the show on CD labeled with your stage name and song title. Check-in for contestants is 8pm. Bring your CD and costume. Have your friends (the more local support you have, the better!) show up around 9:30pm or so. The show starts promptly at 10pm.

Local celebrity judges include Kliph Scurlock of The Flaming Lips, Justin Kendall – air guitar journalist from The Pitch, and Jon Niccum – Entertainment Editor from Lawrence Journal-World.

Rules: Each performance is played to 1 minute (60 sec.) of a song. The 60 seconds can start anywhere in the song.The instrument must be invisible & be a guitar. Air roadies are allowed, but must leave the stage before the performance. Back-up bands (air or real) are not allowed.

Questions? Email eric@scene-stealers.com.

Round 1 (freestyle): each competitor performs to a song of their choice

Round 2 (compulsory): top competitors from round 1 perform surprise song

All performances are scored on a scale from 4.0 to 6.0 – 6.0 being the highest possible. Scores are given to one decimal point (e.g. 5.4, not 5.48). A single score is given to each air guitarist based on their overall performance in that round.

The score reflects the quality of the performance based on three key criteria:

1. Technical merit

You don’t have to know what notes you’re playing, but the more your invisible fretwork corresponds to the music that’s playing, the better the performance.

2. Stage presence

Anyone can do it in the privacy of their bedroom. Few have what it takes to rock a crowd of hundreds or even thousands – all without an instrument.

3. “Airness”

The last criteria is the most difficult to define yet often the most decisive of all. Airness is defined as the extent to which a performance transcends the imitation of a real guitar and becomes an art form in and of itself.

Please note: the scores from BOTH ROUNDS are added to determine the contestants’ final scores. This combined score determines the winner. Confusion over this detail was the cause of a controversy in the 2006 Finals that tore at the very fabric of competitive air guitar.